Floral Lady Skater!

Not much to say about this dress… It’s Lady Skater (sort of) and it’s floral (very!)

This fabric is one of the floral pontes that I ordered from Fashion Fabrics Club a little while back. I asked you folks if ponte would work for a Lady Skater, and you assured me it would… and of course, you were right! This fabric has nice stretch and recovery, but it’s pure poly and will pill and fade quickly. In the meantime though, I’ve got a bright and comfy dress!

(Look, you can see my breath in the picture on the far left!)

The straight up floral on it’s own is rather a lot, but luckily I have plenty of cardigans and scarves in my wardrobe in matching colours to break it up. In particular, I’m excited the dress goes with this turquoise and coral embroidered scarf that I got in either Hong Kong or Japan years back. I love the colours, but I haven’t known what to wear it with. Now I have the perfect outfit!

I tend to prefer straighter skirts in winter, but the Lady Skater skirt has been calling to me lately. As long as it’s well above the knee I don’t feel too frumpy!

You can probably tell that the Lady Skater bodice has been seriously shortened here. When I dug out the pattern I found the pieces I’d adjusted for this babydoll version last winter. I added an inch in length when I cut this one out, but next time I’ll add a little more, especially in front. Can you see below how the waistband is curving up in front? Gotta give the ladies more room!

Speaking of the waistband… uhhh, obviously, I added a waistband! In the end, I accidentally used the strips I had cut to be the neck binding instead of the slightly wider ones I had cut for the waistband… but whatever, it worked. The front is piped with black fold-over elastic to give some definition. I was running low on FOE, so I skipped it on the back.

Anyone else have a Lady Skater planned this winter? I remember the pattern was everywhere last year… naturally, newer patterns have taken over a bit, but this one is such a comfy classic!

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35 thoughts on “Floral Lady Skater!”

Ah, this one is really beautiful, I love a floral dress! I just finished a Lady Skater I cut in February, ha! It´s so colorful, with birds and flowers, that I didn´t have the courage to wear it yet, but this is still one of my favorite pattern ever, I made several versions of it, and peplum tops as well, I also love those, they give me a much needed waist definition, ha!

Floral knit dresses are so great, you look cute and put together with not a lot of effort : ) I’ve never tried to add piping before so I can’t visualize how you did it, did you attach it to the waistband first or the bodice pieces? It’s such a great idea.

This looks great! The floral is fantastic and I love the piped waistband. I’ve yet to make a lady skater. I have the pattern and it’s even all taped together I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. So many things to sew….

Ooh, it looks lovely! Great print and it really goes very well with that beautiful scarf! 🙂 I like the slightly higher waistband (could be biased, since I do almost all my knit dess waistbands like this – I feel it makes me look taller 😉 and I think the skirt has just the right amount of width – though I also prefer slimmer skirt in winter.
No Lady Skaters in my wardrobe, but my go-to jersey dress pattern (traced/self-drafted and modified) is very similar.

Great dress. Cute fabric print. The piping works so well. I really like your scarf too.
It must be getting cold where you are if you can take photos of your breath!
I’m keen to join in on the Top 5 post series 🙂

On a related note, I’m always so impressed with how you stick to your color palette when buying new fabric and coordinating with RTW pieces. I used your tutorial to create a palette for myself earlier this year, and I’ve been making a conscious effort to use it for fabric purchases. So far it’s been working really well! Recently I used it to buy a yard of voile to make a quick infinity scarf, and lo and behold, it matched with almost all of my tops! Thanks again for the inspiration and tools.

Aw, thank you! I’m glad your palette is working for you – I really think that if it doesn’t inspire you, it’s the wrong colours! Have you had to revise it at all, or are you happy with the colours you picked?